DRUG GANGS' IMPACT

As Local Law Enforcement Officials Grandstand, Career Criminals Roam Free

Welcome to another chapter in the ongoing soap opera "As The TAG Team
Turns," starring Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Maricopa
County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and
this week co-starring Gov. Janet Napolitano.

As the TAG Team looks for a way to get their name in the paper and on
the six o'clock news as Election Day creeps closer, Thomas announces
his outrage at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency,
hoping to garner some of the free press Arpaio and his hop-a-long
political sidekick Napolitano grabbed by announcing they were
personally responsible for writing the letter to Washington that led
to the transfer of ICE's Arizona boss Roberto Medina, who is a highly
respected cop, doesn't kiss political backsides and has been
instrumental in attacking Mexican crime cartels. Unfortunately that's
not what really happened. The governor's office was notified more
than a month ago by Homeland Security officials in Washington that
Medina's temporary Arizona assignment would end shortly and his new
permanent assignment would be in El Paso, his hometown. Isn't it just
like a politician to try and run a working cop who's leading the
charge against organized crime out of town?

As for Goddard, he tried his best to grab some ink by re-announcing
his attack on Internet porn in wake of the JonBenet Ramsey slaying
arrest debacle. Anything for publicity?

DEALING WITH DRUG CARTELS

While the TAG Team prances and pirouettes for the cameras, hoping to
keep us distracted from the reality of their ineptitude during an
election year, U.S. marshals from Phoenix and Los Angeles Police
Department detectives were tracking murder suspect Omar Delgado from
L.A. to Phoenix.

According to U.S. Marshal for Arizona David Gonzales, deputy U.S.
marshals and the LAPD had been looking for Delgado, who is wanted in
L.A. for the cold-blooded execution of a gang member. Delgado is a
member of an extremely violent L.A. gang and has a history of arrests
for violent crimes and weapons violations. When marshals and L.A.
police raided Delgado's last known location, they found 150 kilos of
cocaine and a business that was being used as a front for drug trafficking.

According to witnesses, the work force of a dozen men at the phony
business stayed busy.

In the big picture, 150 kilos of coke isn't that much dope. What is
significant is the amount of dope in the possession of a suspected
L.A. gang executioner who set up shop in Phoenix and was calling the
shots in a sizable drug enterprise.

Retired Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Phil
Jordan, who headed the El Paso Intelligence Center, told me the links
between the Mexican drug cartels and American street and prison gangs
are real. Jordan described the use of gang members as enforcers,
soldiers and middle management in the multi-billion-dollar
hemispheric drug trade as eerily reminiscent as the same tactics used
by the Italian mafia when it took control of many of America's
biggest cities decades ago, the exception being that the Latin
cartels are far more violent and kill indiscriminately. Jordan said
the seized $3 million worth of cocaine and the front business are no
doubt a part of the Mexican drug cartel's supply chain of narcotics
distribution locations.

TIME FOR ACTION

Gonzales echoed serious concerns about the links between gangs and
the cartels. As one of the founders of the Arizona GITEM gang task
force, Gonzales has watched the sophistication of gangs evolve from
thugs on the corner to principal players and career criminals in
major organized crime syndicates.

In a recent story on career criminals in PoliceOne Magazine, reporter
Chuck Remsberg interviewed retired Arizona Department of Public
Safety Sgt. Frank "Paco" Marcell. Marcell formerly headed up prison
gang investigation units in Arizona and New Mexico, and currently
serves on the National Major Gang Task Force.

Marcell told Remsberg: "Today's career criminals have changed and
authorities need to change, law enforcement fails to understand the
unique mind-set of our hardest-core offenders, their increasing
influence in the criminal world, and their hair-trigger propensity
for violence. Career criminals have an extensive knowledge of the
criminal justice system. They know the ropes as well if not better
than the law enforcement community. I know they're fully informed
about how we do things, in prisons and jails and out on the street.
Look at the top leaders in terrorist groups and you see pretty much
the same psychological profile."

Are we looking at domestic terrorism? Is Arizona law enforcement
ready for what's ahead?

It's going to take more than the tough talk from the TAG Team to stop
these banditos.

BILL RICHARDSON COMMENTARY